Investors accounted for one in five home purchases in Cuyahoga County in 2020

While pushing for more tools to identify irresponsible property owners and hold them accountable, the report’s authors also are advocating for better tenant protections. That includes a right to legal counsel in eviction proceedings; pay-to-stay legislation, to let tenants avert evictions by paying delinquent rent; and source-of income protection, to prohibit discrimination against tenants who rely on federal housing choice vouchers and other rental subsidies.

The group is lobbying for the Cleveland Tenants Organization, a nonprofit that shut its doors in early 2018, to be resurrected. And they’re pushing for more funding for Cleveland’s oft-maligned building department, which brings in more money than it spends, according to city budget records.

Martin said that some of the recommendations, including tearing down walls between city departments, are easier lifts. Others, like creating a county-wide housing court similar to Franklin County’s Environmental Court, will be much harder to pull off. Some involve changing laws, while others are about shifting practices.

Nonetheless, she said, “I hope we adopt all of them. And I hope the federal and state lawmakers help us. We obviously don’t have enough tools in the toolbox.”

Ford, who has studied local housing trends for years, was not surprised to see the share of investor purchases is climbing. But he is alarmed by the pace of that growth. He’s particularly worried about real estate speculation on Cleveland’s East Side, where few investors are pulling construction permits within six months of a purchase, despite the poor condition of many properties. It’s unclear whether those buyers are performing unsanctioned work or avoiding repairs altogether.

With a new administration in Cleveland and strong national interest in the dynamics shaping the housing market, Ford hopes that the white paper will attract lots of attention. The Akron-Cleveland Association of Realtors is likely to weigh in on the findings, Eberhardt said.

“We may have an opportunity here, right at this time, to get either some federal legislation or some state legislation, just because of the confluence of things coming together right now,” Ford said.

Taylor Marr, the deputy chief economist at Redfin, expects to see more regulations aimed at investors, such as increased taxes on investment activity to fund affordable housing projects.

In a tight housing market, investors can be part of the solution, taking on risks that aren’t palatable to a typical buyer, refurbishing properties for sale and boosting the supply of much-needed rental housing. But, he said, there are some neighborhoods where investors are impeding ownership, driving up costs for everyone and taking out more value than they’re adding.

“I think everyone’s asking themselves, or should be asking themselves, what level of investor activity is reasonable,” Marr said. “If it’s 25%, I think a lot of people would agree that’s too high. But is 5% too low?

“The question is, where do we draw that line? And what do we do about it?”